Geoff emailed me some notes earlier regardang cabinet at the council, in specific whether Mr Bluh is planning to move his cabinet around soon? (I am very tired, not sure that this is making any snese).

When the council convened last week, was Mr Bluh looking happy with Mark Edwards, or did he look sad?

Did Councillor Nick Martin critique the budget, and how did Edwards and Bluh respond to critiquism?

Geoff emailed me some notes earlier regardang cabinet at the council, in specific whether Mr Bluh is planning to move his cabinet around soon? (I am very tired, not sure that this is making any snese).

When the council convened last week, was Mr Bluh looking happy with Mark Edwards, or did he look sad?

Did Councillor Nick Martin critique the budget, and how did Edwards and Bluh respond to critiquism?

Now actually Francoise, you have lit up a few dark skies with you lamp almost like a million candle searchlight picking out a bomber at 10,000ft.

In my opinion during that meeting Cllr Rod Bluh did look more like his photograph captured in the Swindon Advertiser than he normally does. (My gran used to speak of chewing a wasp, but that is enough of the asides). See my blog for my view on this: (post to follow)

Francoise, Are you suggesting that The Night of The Long Knives will visited upon any brownshirts that are showing signs of faltering in their believe in the Supreme Leader, Kim il Bluh? Mon Dieu!

Quite the opposite I think.

Bluh has, in the past, always gone down the route of 'buying off' significant waverers and threats with the offer of committee chairs and cabinet seats. Within the civic offices this practice is referred to as: 'Putting them on the payroll'.

In the run up to Cllr's Bluh and Edwards delivering their 2nd budget of the year, or as they prefer to call it, a 're-cast' budget, underlying factional tensions in the Conservative group rose again as some members were very unhappy with the direction of travel chosen by the leader.

Stephanie Exell, as we all know, resigned from the council in a principled protest, and Stephanie wasn't the only Conservative councillor who was quietly telling colleagues that they were going to resign or cross the floor.

Come the emergency budget night, or as Bluh prefers to call it, a 're-cast budget', the public sat through a sham-debate, (the Conservative group having already been forcefully told which way to vote), and experienced the quietly expectant chamber atmosphere as the Councillors waited to cast their votes.

'Expectant' is exactly the right word, because some councillors were expecting one particular back-bencher to be the first to take a principled stand against another whipped vote and bad budget and vote AGAINST. Unfortunately Stephanie Excell had already resigned and the next disgruntled cllr in the voting order was Mavis Childs.

Now, Cllr Childs knows what she had been telling people before the meeting, and those people were stunned when, against all expectations, she voted FOR the budget and not, as she had led them to think she would do, vote against it. Needless to say that those who were intending to follow her promised 'rebellious lead' did not do so. The significance of seeing Cllr Mark Edwards having a quiet word with her just before the vote was taken was not lost on them and they were left wondering whether a deal had just been struck.

We're now 8 days on from that vote. Mavis has produced all manner of justifications for her vote - all of them flimsy - but not once has she said 'I voted FOR the budget because I think it was the right thing to do'. Once she has actually tried to deny it was a budget at all.

Mavis has not resigned. Mavis has not crossed the floor. We must ask, what is Mavis waiting for? for the fuss to die down or is she still playing the 'poor old me' card in the hope, or perhaps knowledge, that Rod Bluh is shortly going to put her on the pay roll?

We'll have to wait until the cabinet jobs are announced before judging whether Nick Martins challenge was bought-off, or he's been simply frozen out by a frightened herd. If he was bought off his 'position' will have improved. If frozen out he'll be exactly the same or worse off......and possibly facing de-selection.

I don't agree with Ringer that the Perkinator-as-Deputy-leader was part of Nick Martins plan, I think it's more likely that he, [Martin], has been thoroughly kippered by everyone he's been recently helping to get elected & re-elected. Harsh, but such is life in the Tory party.

Looking forward to seeing who's been given which Cabinet and committee jobs, especially those with stipends attached to them, before taking a view on whether Swindon is infected with a hyper-localised version of pork-barrel politics.

Lamplighters have been suggesting for several weeks that Cllr Vera Tomlinson has been pushing for Nick Martin to be returned to cabinet.

To be honest I tend to treat anything to do with the Tomlinsons with caution/suspicion as disinformation is a well used tool tribes as political as theirs, but, with Steve Wakefield now blogging on the subject I think there's some substance to this.

Nick Martin was very critical of Mark Edawards last budget and, like him or loathe him, Martin never seemed to make a dogs dinner of a budget, but Edwards has now produced 2 disasterous ones.

Q: would Nick Martin be returning to cabinet to clear up the mess left by Edwards or to do something else entirely. 'One Swindon' perhaps?